The present invention relates to a bioactive, ruthenium-containing coating, in particular for silver-containing surfaces, and a bioactive device having a silver- and ruthenium-containing surface, and the production and use of said bioactive coating and device.
As early as 1869 by Ravelin and 1893 by von Nägeli, the antibacterial effect of silver in very low doses was described. Even today, the effectiveness of silver is still of immediate interest (Landau, U. (2006): Die keimreduzie-rende Wirkung des Silbers in Hygiene, Medizin und Wasseraufbereitung: Die Oligodynamie des Silbers; Isensee-Verlag, Oldenburg, 2006 Oct. 3).
Microbial contaminations continue to cause huge problems and commercial losses in all areas associated with water quality, aqueous solutions, and hygiene. Such areas can be found for example in hospitals, hygiene institutes, in food technology, production, air-conditioning technology, and also in the home.
For this reason, various antimicrobial decontamination solutions using aggressive chemical substances against microorganisms, such as for example formaldehyde, alcohols, phenols, sodium azide, sodium hypochlorite, or strongly oxidizing agents such as for example hypochlorite, bleaching agents, or mineral acid have existed for quite some time.
The disadvantages of these solutions and methods lie in the fact that the very aggressive chemicals and oxidizing agents used for decontamination and disinfection have a high corrosive and toxic potential. As a result, treated water and aqueous solutions typically become unsuitable for human consumption and used devices or surfaces can be damaged by corrosion.
Such aggressive chemical solutions for washing and rinsing devices, instruments, and working surfaces are therefore typically used in closed loops.
The application of silver technology gradually improved this problem. The oligodynamic effect of silver allows the sterilization of water or aqueous solutions in a quality that represents no health hazard to humans and prevents damage to materials and surfaces. Silver technology is therefore also used in the production, treatment, and quality assurance of drinking water.
Consequently, there is a constant effort to improve the efficiency of silver technology. For example, from WO 2005/023206 A2 and DE 100 54 248 A1 more recent methods are known that utilize the properties of nanoparticles to achieve a quicker release of silver ions over a very large surface.
The commercial interest in materials and methods for maintaining the water quality or the quality of aqueous solutions in general for humans by means of silver technology is emphasized by the widespread commercial distribution of corresponding products under various trade names.
Disadvantages of the known methods for silver technology are a strongly delayed onset of the action after contact of silver with water and only selective antibacterial action. It takes for example usually several hours, frequently even significantly longer, until a sufficient quantity of silver ions is released from the surface after contact of silver with contaminated water to sufficiently kill the microorganisms and achieve an adequate sterilization of the water.
Hence, silver technology has two problem areas: 1. time-delayed onset of the germicidal action; and 2. limited activity spectrum for efficient decontamination and disinfection of water or aqueous solutions to kill or eliminate microorganisms and problematic biomolecules. Improved methods and processes are therefore constantly sought to increase the efficiency of silver technology.
Furthermore, the new findings of modern molecular biology and gene technology show that besides microorganisms, genetic information alone, individual genes or even parts thereof, and certain proteins are already sufficient to trigger diseases or cause undesirable genetic alterations (Elhafi et al., 2004). Efficient decontamination of surfaces to kill or eliminate active biomolecules would therefore represent an additional safety gain in all areas of water quality and hygiene.
In practice, there is consequently a need for improved materials, methods, and processes for the efficient and particularly also non-toxic and non-corrosive complete decontamination and disinfection of water or aqueous solution to kill or eliminate microorganisms and active biomolecules such as for example DNA, RNA, and proteins.